A Palm Beach County jury Friday awarded "Sunny 104.3" (WEAT-FM ) more than the $13.3 million the station's attorney had asked for after ruling that Ross breached her contract by moving to rival station WRMF (97.9 FM).

Ross, a fixture on local morning radio, has been at the center of a contentious legal battle since 2000, when she jumped from Sunny 104.3 to WRMF. Once she made the move, Infinity Radio, the owner of Sunny 104.3, quickly asked a judge to enforce a contract clause that barred her from working at another radio station within 125 miles for a year if she left her No.1- rated morning show.

In the legal wrangling, Ross, whose real name is Elena Whitby, was ordered off the air and held in contempt of court twice, once after promoting WRMF at a 2001 March of Dimes event where people allegedly sold "Free Jennifer Ross" shirts.

Haile, who represents Ross and three James Crystal companies that formerly owned, operated and held the broadcast licenses for WRMF, said he planned to file a request Friday asking Judge Diana Lewis to set aside the ruling. If that effort fails, Haile said he would turn to the 4th District Court of Appeal.

Ross and the three business entities were ordered to pay $1 million each in compensatory damages. The rest are punitive damages. If the appeals fail, James Crystal will pay the $1 million Ross is responsible for, Haile said.

"I think the jury really just didn't quite understand what was going on," Haile said. Infinity Radio found an expert whose flawed calculations didn't account for changes in the radio market when determining how much money Ross' defection cost Sunny 104.3, Haile said.

"Their expert assumed that nothing had changed, that iPods hadn't arrived, that satellite radio hadn't arrived," he said. "It's a preposterous assumption to assume everything is the same ... She's good, but she ain't Oprah Winfrey."